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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Charade (08/14/08)
Phyllis, who was an 80-year-old woman who was still living at home. She was healthy enough to be able to drive and still had a sound mind. She had just came back from a seminar at her church that was on identity theft. She had not been home 10 minutes when the phone rang.

Brinnnngg the phone rang, "hello this is Phyllis."

"This is Joe from the bank, we need some information from you regarding the purchase you want to make with Johnson book's."

Phyllis had the puzzled look on her face as she said, " What purchase, I did not order anything from Johnson books."

"You were going to make a purchase with Johnson books," Joe fired back.

"You have got to be mistaken, I was not making a purchase with Johnson books, in fact I have never heard of Johnson Books," Phyllis fired back.

Joe is getting frustrated because he is thinking that he is dealing with a senile old lady.

"You were going to order The Ten commandment Series?" said Joe.

Phyllis remembered about what she had just learned at the seminar. They told her that the bank probably will never call you.

"Joe can I have your number, so I can call you back?" asked Phyllis.

"No!" yelled Joe.

"Well then, if that is the case I don't want to have anything to do with you!" she yelled and then hung up.

She then called her bank shaking as she is dialing the number. "First State Bank, this is Sandra."

"Hi, this is Phyllis Bently, I just got a call from a man named Joe. He said that he was from the bank. He told me that he needed information from me about a purchase that I was going to make with Johnson Books, when I have never even heard of the company. I finally hung up on him," said a nervous Phyllis.

"You did a right thing by hanging up on him. There are two things you should remember; first, the bank never will call you asking for a account number. Second, I have never heard of any company calling and telling you that you ordered something and asking for account number. It sounds like a charade, said Sandra.

Sandra knew Phyllis very well; Sandra had kept a watchful eye out for Phyllis for years.

"Looking at you account I don’t see a charge from Johnson books," said Sandra

Breathing a sigh of relief Phyllis said, "thank you, the good thing is I just came from identity theft seminar. They told me about this type of scam, I am certainly glad I went."

"These thieves like to get old people," said Sandra

"They do, thanks for your help," said Phyllis.

"Thanks for calling," said Sandra and she hung up.
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This article has been read 892 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Verna Cole Mitchell 
08/21/08
I'm glad this was one older lady who did not get scammed. Your story can serve as a warning to be cautious in regards to identify theft.
Jan Ackerson
08/23/08
A cautionary tale that covers a situation very important for senior citizens to understand.

You may want to give your story a final edit for punctuation and run-on sentences before submitting, to help with the overall flow.

Thanks for sharing this warning story!